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Passage 1THE biggest danger facing the global airline industry is not the effects of terrorism, war,
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   Passage 1

  THE biggest danger facing the global airline industry is not the effects of terrorism, war, SARS and economic downturn. It is that these blows, which have helped ground three national flag carriers and force two American airlines into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, will divert attention from the inherent weaknesses of aviation, which they have exacerbated. As in the crisis that attended the first Gulf war, many airlines hope that traffic will soon bounce back, and a few catastrophic years will be followed by fuller planes, happier passengers and a return to profitability. Yet the industry"s problems are deeper—and older—than the trauma of the past two years implies.

  As the centenary of the first powered flight approaches in December, the industry it launched is still remarkably primitive. The car industry, created not long after the Wright Brothers made history, is now a global industry dominated by a dozen firms, at least half of which make good profits. Yet commercial aviation consists of 267 international carriers and another 500-plus domestic ones. The world"s biggest carrier, American Airlines, has barely 7% of the global market, whereas the world"s biggest carmaker, General Motors, has (with its associated firms) about a quarter of the world"s automobile market.

  Aviation has been incompletely deregulated, and in only two markets: America and Europe. Everywhere else deals between governments dictate who flies under what rules. These aim to preserve state-owned national flag-carriers, run for prestige rather than profit. And numerous restrictions on foreign ownership impede cross-border airline mergers.

  In America, the big network carriers face barriers to exit, which have kept their route networks too large. Trade unions resisting job cuts and Congressmen opposing route closures in their territory conspire to block change. In Europe, liberalisation is limited by bilateral deals that prevent, for instance, British Airways (BA) flying to America from Frankfurt or Paris, or Lufthansa offering transatlantic flights from London"s Heathrow. To use the car industry analogy, it is as if only Renaults were allowed to drive on French motorways.

  In airlines, the optimists are those who think that things are now so bad that the industry has no option but to evolve. Frederick Reid, president of Delta Air Lines, said earlier this year that events since the September 11th attacks are the equivalent of a meteor strike, changing the climate, creating a sort of nuclear winter and leading to a “compressed evolutionary cycle”. So how, looking on the bright side, might the industry look after five years of accelerated development?

  46. According to the author, the deeper problems of aviation industry _________________.

  A. are the effects of various disasters

  B. are actually not fully recognized

  C. are attracting a lot of attention

  D. are not the real cause of airlines’ bankruptcy

  47. One of the facts that reflect the primitiveness of airline industry is ________________.

  A. its history is much longer than that of car industry

  B. it is composed of international and domestic carriers

  C. its market is divided by many a relatively small carrier

  D. it is still an industry of comparatively low profits

  48. What does the author mean by “ Aviation has been incompletely deregulated,”( para.3) ?

  A. Governmental restrictions are still imposed on aviation industry in many areas.

  B. Governments help establish rules for aviation industry only in America and Europe.

  C. Some countries hope to help their national carriers keep up their national prestige.

  D. Many countries discourage merger plans between foreign and domestic carriers.

  49. It can be inferred from the passage that ____________________.

  A. free competition may help solve the problems confronting aviation industry

  B. problems in America are more of a political nature than that in Europe

  C. car industry should exert a more powerful influence on aviation industry

  D. there is still a long way to go before the problems can be solved

  50. According to Fredrick Reid, the aviation industry ______________________.

  A. is facing a very serious situation

  B. will confront a difficult evolution

  C. has no way out of the present difficulty

  D. will experience a radical reform

  Passage 3

  Media mogul Ted Turner yesterday sold more than half of his AOL Time Warner Inc. holdings for about $780 million, a move that reflects his efforts to slash his financial stake in the media giant.

  After the close of regular trading yesterday, Turner sold a block of 60 million shares to Goldman Sachs & Co. for $13.07 per share, or 31 cents below the stock"s closing price yesterday. Goldman was said by Wall Street sources to be offering the stock to major investors for $13.15.

  An outspoken critic of the corporation, Turner remains AOL Time Warner"s largest individual shareholder, with 45 million shares, and a member of its board of directors. A spokeswoman for Turner referred questions to AOL Time Warner.

  At his peak Turner owned about 130 million shares, but he lost billions of dollars in wealth and grew bitter after the stock plunged following the merger of America Online and Time Warner in January 2001.

  Turner, who initially supported the merger, later expressed outrage over revelations that America Online had manipulated its financial results. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating AOL, and the corporation has acknowledged discovering tens of millions of dollars of overstated revenue.

  Turner resigned as vice chairman earlier this year and has been spending less of his time on AOL Time Warner matters. He stepped down after achieving his goal of pressuring America Online founder Steve Case to resign as the corporation"s chairman. Case said he was giving up the post to avoid a bruising public battle for reelection at next week"s annual meeting.

  In the effort to oust Case, Turner teamed up with Gordon Crawford, the senior media portfolio manager at Capital Research & Management, the largest institutional shareholder in AOL Time Warner. Capital Research has indicated it will vote against Case"s election to remain on the board of directors next week -- a position that analysts said should not affect the outcome. Turner, meanwhile, has said he will support the management slate that includes Case and will make Richard D. Parsons the company"s chairman and chief executive.

  Turner, a visionary who started Cable News Network, is in the midst of rolling out a new chain of restaurants, Ted"s Montana Grill, featuring bison burgers. He recently moved his residence from Georgia to Florida for estate-planning purposes and is spending time and money on his independent film company, which lost millions of dollars on a lengthy movie about the Civil War.

  51. From the first three paragraphs, we learn that ___________________.

  A. Goldman has made a profit from this transaction of shares with Turner

  B. Turner always expresses his dissatisfaction with the corporation openly

  C. Goldman bought the block of shares in order to become a member of the board

  D. Turner sold a large portion of his shares to retreat from the media business

  52. Turner became extremely angry because ____________________.

  A. he had to sell a large portion of his shares to Goldman at a loss

  B. the merger covered the dissatisfactory financial results of AOL

  C. American Online was found to have exaggerated its revenue

  D. he lost billions of dollars in wealth due to the stock’s going low

  53. All of the following about Case are true Except _________________.

  A. he stepped down from the post of the founder of AOL

  B. he used to be the chairman of AOL Time Warner

  C. he had to resign from his post under pressure from Turner and Crawford

  D. he will meet with opposition from Capital Research to remain on the board

  54. The last paragraph shows that _____________________.

  A. Turner’s interest is presently centered on chain restaurants

  B. Turner is such a changeable person on business matters

  C. Turner will never give up his independent film company

  D. Turner is a businessman full of imagination

  55. The best title for this passage could be ___________________.

  A. Turner makes a series of new decisions

  B. Turner shows his anger at AOL Time Warner

  C. Turner comes down from his peak in business

  D. Turner slashes his financial stake in AOL

    Section III Reading Comprehension

  Passage 1

  全球航空产业所面临地最大的危机不是恐怖主义、战争、非典以及经济低迷所带来的影响,而是这些诸如保护三家国有航空公司的发展并使得两家美国航空公司被迫破产之类的打击。这些打击把人们的注意力从航空产业所固有的并且日益恶化的弱点转移开来。正如在海湾战争这样的危机中,许多航空公司都希望运输业可以很快恢复,期盼随之而来的是更满的乘客机舱、更加开心的乘客还有盈利。但是,航空产业的问题却比两年来的打击所揭示的要深远的多。

  随着十二月份航空业百年的临近,航空产业所展示的仍然是相当的原始。在赖特兄弟发明飞机之后不久产生的汽车工业已经是受控于十几家公司的全球产业。这些公司中至少有一半获取了丰厚的回报。与之相较,航空产业包括267个国际企业和另外500多个国家性企业。全球最大的航空产业公司美国航空公司,仅仅占有了全球市场的7%,然而全球最大的汽车制造商通用汽车共占有了约四分之一的全球汽车市场。

  航空器制造业还没有被完全的解除管制,而且只是存在于美国和欧洲市场上。其他的地区只是政府支配航行者和航线。这些都是为了保护国有企业,公司的运营不是为了盈利而是为了声望。而且对于外国所有权的诸多限制也阻止了国家间航线的合并。

  在美国,大型的航空网络运营公司因为遭遇某些障碍而无法退出某些航线,这使他们的航空网线过大。行业工会反对裁员,议员们总是阻止航空公司取消自己辖地的航线,他们联合起来阻碍变革。在欧洲,航空业的自由化也因为某些政府的双边协议而收到限定,例如,这些双边协议不让英国航空公司经营从法兰克福-巴黎飞往美国的航线,不让德国汉莎航空公司提供始发于伦敦的希思罗机场的跨大西洋航线。拿汽车产业来分析,这就好比雷诺汽车只允许在法国的高速公路上行驶。

  在航空产业中,也有乐观的人认为现在情况糟糕使得该产业没有别的选择只有变革。年初,三角洲航空公司总裁弗雷德里克.里德指出,9.11事件就像是流星的撞击一样,改变了气候,产生了一种核的严冬,必将导致“演变周期的压缩”。那么,从好的方面看,五年的迅猛发展之后,航空产业又会变成什么样子呢?

  Passage 2

  昨天,媒体巨头特德.特纳将他的美国在线时代华纳娱乐公司的一半股权以7.8亿美金的价格售出。这一行为反应出他正试图削减自己在这一媒体巨霸中的投资。

  在昨日常规交易结束之后,特纳以每股13.07美元的价格将六千万的股份卖给了高曼.赛克公司,这个价格比昨天收盘时的价格低了31美分。华尔街有传言称高曼公司正以每股13.15美元的价格向重要投资方兜售这些股权。

  作为公司中坦率直言的批评家,特纳是美国在线时代华纳娱乐公司最大的股东,他拥有四千五百万的股份,并且是公司董事会的成员。特纳的代言人向美国在线时代华纳娱乐公司提出疑问。

  在特纳事业的巅峰,他拥有大约1.3亿的股份,但随着2001年一月美国在线和时代华纳娱乐公司的合并之后股票的暴跌他损失了数十亿的财富并且这种形势愈演愈烈。

  最初的时候,特纳是支持两家公司合并的,但是随着美国在线操弄自己财务一事的曝光,特纳表现出了极度的愤慨。证券交易委员会正在调查美国在线,后者承认有虚报了超出数千万的收入。

  今年年初特纳辞去了公司副主席的职务,并且不再花多少时间处理美国在线时代华纳公司的事务。在通过努力使得美国在线的创始人史蒂夫.凯思辞去公司董事长的职务之后,特纳也辞职了。凯思表示为了避免在激烈的竞争中相互挫伤,他放弃了在下周的年会上再选的机会。

  为了驱逐凯思,特纳与美国在线时代华纳娱乐公司的最大合法股东戈登.克朗福德联合起来,戈登.克朗福德是资金管理研究所中的资深的媒体部部长。资金管理研究所表明将对凯思下周竞选继任董事长职务投票反对。分析指出这个职务的任免应该不影响结果。同时,特纳表示他将促使候选人名单中有凯思,但是理查德.帕森思将是公司的董事长和首席执行官。

  作为一个颇有远见的梦想家,特纳创建了有线电视新闻网,他又在大力的发展他的新的连锁饭店――特德.蒙德纳烧烤,特色是野牛肉夹饼。最近为了规划他的地产业务,他将住所从乔治亚洲搬到了佛罗里达,他还将资金投入他私人的电影公司中,该公司因拍摄一部关于美国内战的冗长电影而损失了数百万美元。

 
  答案: BCAAD BCADD


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